1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the architecture and fabrication of a piezoelectric device designed to provide localized and controlled stress to conductive nanostructures, and to provide means to measure the change in electronic transport properties derived from the applied stress. Applications of this architecture include a nonvolatile memory device, where the remnant nature of the ferroelectric produces a nonvolatile conductivity change.
2. Description of the Related Art
Novel self-assembled conductive organic structures and carbon nanotubes are being extensively studied due to their relevance to the areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The electronic transport of nanoscale structures is believed to be very sensitive to local strain and stress. The possibility of locally controlling these fields will open new possibilities in terms of designing new electronic devices but techniques and devices to explore or take advantage of this suspected characteristic are currently poorly evolved.
In the case of nanotubes, their distinct electronic and mechanical properties are known to be sensitive to strain and stress. However, the current ways of manipulating the nanotubes, for instance using the tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM), are not particularly suited to change the applied stress smoothly and in a controlled fashion.
Currently, no good technique is known to exist to apply stress smoothly to a nanotube structure.